The Time Has Come
by Not A Droid
Summary: One-shot set during the Season 2 episode, "The Cricket Game". Belle asks some questions that have been bothering her and some things to tell Rumpel as well.


_A/N: This takes place during the season 2 episode, The Cricket Game. Belle asks some questions of Rumpelstiltskin that have been bugging her.  
_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any character associated with it, no copyright infringement is intended._

* * *

 _"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings"_

 _― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass_

It was supposed to be a date. A sweet, innocent, lunch date with just Belle and Rumpelstiltskin and no one else. The last time they tried this it was a disaster.

Well, maybe disaster was too strong a word, but it didn't end the way Belle wanted it to.

It began well enough with lunch at Granny's, but then Regina interrupted it with vague references to someone dangerous. Then Rumple went off with Regina and Belle didn't see him for a few days.

So this time, Belle had a strategy. She would bring lunch to him at the store in a picnic basket. That should cut down on the interruptions, Belle thought. Except Prince Charming, Snow White and Emma showed up.

This time they accused Rumple of killing Sweet Archie Hopper and framing Regina. Unflappable as ever, he didn't even flinch but came up with a way prove his innocence. They brought in Archie's dog Pongo, then Rumple helped Emma extract Pogo's memory of Archie's murder. Those memories showed it was Regina who killed him. She just walked into his office and killed him.

Belle didn't think it was any great surprise. She knew how bad Regina was. She didn't know why Regina would want to kill Archie, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Rumple was innocent.

Emma stormed out, with Prince Charming and Snow White following her. That left Rumpelstiltskin, Belle and Pongo in the shop.

Rumple stood facing the door, motionless and quiet, exuding an eerie calm. The only time Belle saw him like this when he was spinning. After a few minutes, when he hadn't moved or made a sound she said,"Rumple?"

No reaction.

"Rumple?" She said it a little louder.

Still nothing.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" She really hadn't meant to shout, but at least it shook him out of whatever kind of a trance he was in.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Where were you?"

"What do mean? I've been right here.."

"No. Your body was here but you were somewhere else entirely. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Let's have that lunch." He went towards the picnic basket she brought in, but she stood in his way. She gave him a look that implied she didn't believe him.

"I thought we were going to be honest with each other, no secrets," she said.

"What do you mean?"

Her look communicated in no uncertain terms he was being a butt-head and she didn't appreciate it.

"Tell me." It was an order.

"I'm sorry, it ...it just doesn't make sense is all."

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Regina killing Dr. Hopper. It just doesn't make sense."

"You don't think Regina could kill Archie?" Belle was incredulous.

"Oh, she's more than capable of doing it, don't get me wrong. If it served her needs, she wouldn't hesitate to killer Dr. Hopper or anyone else. That's the problem, though. It doesn't serve her needs, though. It can't."

"She had an argument with Archie. Ruby saw it."

Gold smiled. "She and I argue all the time. She snaps at Emma constantly, too say nothing of her exchanges with ..." he paused for a moment " well, everyone. If she killed everyone she argued with this would be a really small town with a really large cemetery."

"Are you saying she didn't do it."

"That's the problem, isn't it. We all saw it. She must of done it. I suppose that's what disturbs me."

"I don't understand."

"I've told you before, I have a complicated relationship with most everyone in this town. But there is no one I have a more complicated relationship than Regina."

Belle cocked her head to one side, with a quizzical look on her face. "I don't understand."

"We've been enemies. We've been friends. We've been allies. She cast by curse for me, although she didn't know she was doing it for me. But before all of that, she was my student."

"You taught her?"

"Everything she knows, about magic anyway. Of course the reason I taught her was to prepare her for the curse. But none of that changes me feeling a certain responsibility for her. If I had just ..."

Belle touched him on the arm,"It isn't your fault."

"No, it's yours."

"Excuse me?"

"I manipulated Regina for most of her adult life into casting my curse. I've manipulated a number of people, most of the people I in this town to ensure the curse was cast, the curse was broken, and magic would be brought back. I manipulated everyone just like I spin straw into gold, and with just as little thought. Until I met you. With you around I ..."

"Care?"

"Yes."

Belle smiled, "you always cared, Rumple. You just kept making yourself forget you cared. You gave yourself a thick lizard skin and convinced yourself you didn't care. But you always did." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

"It was easier when I forgot that I did."

"But it wasn't real." She smiled an encouraging smile. A few seconds later her brow furrowed, as a thought popped into her head and she tried to smooth it out.

"What is it," he asked.

"There's just something I've been wondering about for a while."

"What?"

"The curse. It wiped everyone's memory of who they were, except for Regina."

"Yes."

"Even yours? I mean, I guess it would have to, but that just seems strange. I mean, I just can't imagine you allowing yourself to undergo that while waiting for the curse to be broken. I mean, your said yourself you arranged everything so carefully, why would you allow yourself to be put yourself in such a vulnerable spot?"

"That's simple, I wouldn't. And I didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, the curse wiped everyone's memories except Regina's. But unlike everyone else, I knew what was coming. I had time to prepare."

"I don't understand."

"I knew. I always knew. I remembered from the first day of the curse, I remembered everything."

"How is that..."

"Because, Belle, I arranged to be locked up in a secluded cell where I would have to be ready when the curse hit."

"You remembered? Everything?"

"The curse wiped everyone's memories, that's true, but there are always precautions that can be taken, if you know what's coming and are willing to do it. It's why I knew what to ask for when Regina needed help with the curse."

"What?"

"Just two things: one, comfort and two for her to do whatever I asked if I said 'please'."

"And she agreed?"

"Why not? As far as she knew I wouldn't remember anything, so I couldn't take advantage. I admit, it was hard not to tip my hand, but I did for a long time and she never realized it until after Miss Swan arrived.

"So what happened?"

"What tipped her off? I don't know. I must have done or said something. Maybe when I helped Miss Swan become sheriff. In any case, I finally had to admit to her I knew."

"Because you two were that close?"

"Because she had something I needed."

"What was that?"

"Your cup. It was the only thing I have of yours...ours." He was quiet for a moment.

His face twitched, and Belle realized he was fighting back tears.

"Rumple, what's wrong?"

"If I had just known...that you were alive. I would have negotiated for you not just the cup."

"But you didn't know."

"I should have. I should have not trusted her when she told me..."

"Told you what?"

"After you left, back then, when you...when I sent you away, she told me you went home. That because of your association with me...you father locked you in a tower. " He couldn't hold back the tears now, they just came. "The clerics...they used whips and fire and you threw yourself out of the towe."

She put her hand on his face. "You thought...It's okay."

"No it's not. What they put you through because of me."

She smiled her kind, encouraging smile,"But they didn't. I told you she abducted me."

"From the tower. I mean, I thought she took you from the tower." He paused. He eyes were alight with malice. "It was the only thing I thought she did that was good. That she saved you from the tower. From that...Then used you as a pawn against me."

"Except I never went, Rumple. I was going to but then...I just thought at least now I could see the world. And then..."

"Yes?"

"I had to go back. To you. I had to go back to you. That's when she took me."

"She ..." he didn't finish the thought. His eyes flashed with even more malice and even more hate. "She..." his voice reverberated with quiet, violent hatred.

"It's okay. I'm okay. I'm here. With you."

"But..."

"Rumple, right here, right now...what you're feeling...that's Regina. That's what she feels. The kind of hate and violence that's in your heart, that's what runs through her heart. Don't let it live in you."

"But..."

"No." She said it quietly and gently, but firmly. "No more hate. No more violence. No more manipulating people. No more curses."

"But.."

"It isn't what Baelfire would want."

At his son's name, some of the malice and hate seemed to let out of him and his eyes softened.

"It's not what I want either," Belle said. "I want you. Not the Dark One. Not revenge. Just you."

"I am the Dark One."

"No. You're Rumpelstiltskin. And your a good man."

"A lot of people would disagree with you."

"I'm used to people being wrong."

Pongo barked.

They both looked at the Dalmatian.

"He knows I'm right," Belle said.

"Well, if he says so," Rumpelstiltskin said. He looked at Pongo and then he looked at Belle. "Let's take him back to Marco."

Belle smiled and said,"OK."

Shortly they were walking Pongo back to his new home. They didn't think about Regina or the curse or the dark things that had happened. They were just two people in love walking a dog.

It was more than enough for both of them.


End file.
